IBM invests $250 million in Dublin

Demand for platters the reason, says Big Blue

IBM said this afternoon it will create 700 jobs in the Republic of Ireland because of an unprecedented demand for hard drives. The company has a number of such plants in Europe, including a facility in Mainz and in a Hungarian plant at Szkesfehervar. Said Walter Meizer, who heads up IBM Emea's storage division: "This is a state of art facility with highly skilled employees." Demands for more platters had influenced IBM's decision to open the plant, said Meizer. IBM did not say whether the Irish Development Association (IDA) had helped it to set up the new fab. Arno Hebgen, the VP in charge of IBM's European disk business unit, will manage the plant. ®